tuxedoblack11

Just had a quick question, do the new aftermarket ford liners go all the way down to the bottoms of the fenders? http://accessories.ford.com/panel-wheelhouse-outer.html The main reason I want liners is to keep junk from getting up into the backside of the rear bumper. From what i hear the rugged liners only go about halfway, so what good does that do!? Purpose is to keep crap on the liners not crammed up under your truck bumper and fender!

BMWBig6

Do these liners affect fuel economy? I would guess that making the wheel well cavity a smaller volume would change the pressure differential as air flows over and around the wheel. Any laminar flow engineers out there?

MarshalTex

Just installed the rugged liners sold on EBay. Easy install and fit/ look great. Should be helpful in keeping the undercarraige cleaner.

OME F150

I install o pair from Ford Thursday afternoon.

beaker80

Finally installed my wheel well liners. Overall fairly simple install. I didnt have to cut any push pins as other forums have mentioned. There are cut outs on the OEM liners to go over the pins. All hardware was included and you have to reuse some of the existing nut brackets by relocating them to the liners. The instructions do cover this but not very well. They are a bit tough to get the last few inches in but I didnt need any tools to do it. I pre-washed my wheel wells to get rid of all the winter sand and crap. Then I bought a can of dripless undercoating and liberally sprayed the wells before installing the liners. I have Weathertech mud flaps and they installed as they were before. Just a bit trickier with the liners in place. The liners give a nice finished look to the wells. Just wish Ford put them on at the factory!!!

MT-Ford

I installed my Ford ones last week. I like that they had all the cut outs for the push pins. I didn't even have to remove my Weathertech mud flaps. Very easy job, but I removed my wheels. I think it would be much harder install with the wheels in place.

BMWBig6

I agree, as I discovered firsthand myself yesterday. Here are some tips and lessons learned from installing my Ford accessories wheel well liners (Note, some of these instructions do not apply to the eBay/Rugged liners):

• Secure plenty of snacks, thirst quenchers, and lubricants (beer) beforehand.

• Make sure the kids are absolutely clear that you are NOT building them a kiddie pool (it looks just like one when you put the 2 clam shell halves together!).

• Wash and scrub the wheel wells the day before you start this project, or at least the morning of if you're expecting a warm sunny day. That way everything will be dry by the time you're doing the actual install.

• Do not plan to do this installation on your anniversary, if you value your marriage (thankfully my wife is very understanding and supportive of my hobbies). I was deceived by posts on here claiming the job could be done in 30 minutes per side. It easily took me 3 times that long because I was being very careful not to damage any paint, etc. And I even studied the instructions and re-read this thread the night before to prepare for the big event (the liner installation, not my anniversary LOL).

• If you are like me, and are obsessive about protecting your vehicle from scratches or collateral damage, take the time to protect your fender lips with blue painter's (masking) tape. It will be worth the extra 10 minutes. I even went to the extra trouble of washing my fender lips too, so there was no grit that could get caught between the liner and fender and scratch the paint.

• Find a buddy with a lift if you want to make this job a breeze. I'm still aching from crawling under the truck with a creeper, and this job would be much simpler and faster if everything was at eye level or at least waist high.

• Consider taking the rear wheels off, especially if your truck is lowered in any way. If you have a Harley Davidson edition or Lariat Limited with the lower factory suspension like me, the installation can be done without taking the wheels off, but it will be harder. You might want to jack the rear of the truck up and let the wheels hang free, or do what I did and just park angled on a sloping driveway or hill crest so that 3 wheels are up (suspension compressed), and the wheel for the corner you're working on is down (extended suspension travel). Please remember to use the parking brake and some wheel chocks for your safety! I only had about 6" of clearance (between the fender lip and tire) when the truck was flat, but gained another 2" with the parking method above. The extra 2" was VERY helpful in squeezing the liner inside the fender well. I don't think the liner would have even fit over the tire with only 6" of clearance without serious malformation or damage to the fender lip (in fact, I had to first line up the liner rotated toward the front of the truck, at 10 o'clock position if looking at driver side, then rotate back to center after inserting the liner into the wheel well cavity).

• A deep socket (10mm) will be your friend (a normal short socket won't give you the clearance to turn your handle). Or if you don't have a deep socket, at least use a short extension. A swivel socket or elbow may also help, but I was able to do everything with just a standard deep socket.

• As someone else posted on here before, you DO NOT have to completely remove or loosen the fender support rods. You only have to remove the bottom bolt and the INBOARD top bolt from the front fender support rod (it will still be attached by 2 other bolts, the outboard top bolt and one by the frame/bed). You only have to remove the bottom bolt on the rear fender support rod (leave the top one alone!).

• After you've removed the bolts, be sure to clean their threads and washers with a small brush as they will likely have accumulated gunk like dirt, sand, and debris.

• Use the brush to clean out the bolt holes too, and spray some quick detailer solution on a rag and wipe the washer mating surfaces clean on the body of your truck so that you're not scratching and marring your paint with the loose grit when tightening the bolts later (yes I know nobody will see under the washers once installed).

• Use a small pry bar or the tip of a flat-head screw driver to remove the 4 pesky U-nuts (Part C in your instructions) off of the bottom corner of each fender lip, as they have an angled loop that helps keep them anchored and centered in the hole that the bolt passes through. You have to re-use these U-nuts so don't lose them!

• Remember to install the 2 new U-nuts (that come with the liner hardware) in the INBOARD position on the rear wheel well cavity (there are 2 holes you can use).

• Before you start tucking any part of the liner behind the fender, make sure your liner is correctly positioned and aligned first, or else you WILL have to remove the liner and start all over again. This means making sure that the front edge of the liner is resting ABOVE the top of the shock absorber's mounting bracket (otherwise you will not be able to force or wiggle the liner into the proper position later).

• A plastic trim removal tool was very helpful in massaging the liner behind the fender, but sometimes more force was required from a taped screwdriver or pry bar.

• Don't be afraid to grab the bottom or side of the fender and pull outward (toward you) in order to gain the clearance needed to fit the liner behind it. This is one time when Ford's super-thin sheet metal in the F150's body panels are your friend. You can move or deflect the fender lips almost half an inch in either direction without damaging anything but the skin on your knuckles LOL.

• Before you start re-installing and tightening ANY bolts, be sure to make sure that your liner, fender support rod, fender, fender splash/rock guard (if you have one), and fender lip trim (if you have one) are in the correct order. This is the correct order (imagine a sandwich from top to bottom):
  • Wheel well liner (with re-used original U-nuts from the bottom corner of each wheel well)
  • Fender support rod (where the U-nuts were taken from)
  • Fender (body panel)
  • Fender splash/rock guard (if equipped)
  • Fender lip that goes around the wheel well (if equipped)
• I personally didn't use a torque wrench to tighten the bolts down to 6 ft-lbs as the instructions indicate, but I think the point is to not overtighten as I imagine that your body panel could theoretically deform and cause the paint to crack if you used excessive torque. I got mine pretty snug but backed off before I started hearing metal popping, groaning, and cracking. I also didn't re-apply blue threadlocker as there still seemed to be enough leftover from the factory bolt installation (I'm sure someone thinks I committed sacrilege).

• Use a long pry bar (if you left your tires on) to help raise the liner high enough to insert the clips (Part E in your instructions) over both the boxed framing under the bed and bottom lip of the liner. The clips are VERY tight, so I had to use a couple of pliers to make the mouth wider on 2 of them so that they would fit in the rear-most clip position.

• Do not sob when your wife and kids come outside to see the result of your handiwork the past few hours, and they claim they can't see or notice any difference from how the truck looked before. Just remember that you and maybe 200 other F150forum members will know the liners are there!

SilverBackSuperCrew

Nice write up! Thanks for taking the time.

sluggo1

Great write up. Although the title of this thread still makes me laugh "inner wheel well liners" as opposed to "outer wheel well liners??????"

BMWBig6

Thx, you're both welcome!